by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
The Mexican gray wolf is UNM's namesake, but a student group said the University isn't doing enough to protect its mascot.
The UNM Wilderness Alliance issued a resolution in September demanding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service improve its Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program.
The resolution also urged University administration to issue "institutional policies and official resolutions" in support of Mexican gray wolves.
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"UNM could be a major block of support for the Mexican gray wolf," UNM Wilderness Alliance President Phil Carter said. "The University is way overdue in defending their mascot. This is their chance to do that."
Representatives of the University could not be reached for comment. Thursday
The wolves were indigenous to New Mexico, but they were eradicated by the 1970s under a federal
predator-control program, Carter said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service began a program to reintroduce the wolves into New Mexico and Arizona in 1998.
Some wolves attacked livestock and pets in the area, so the program created a set of procedures to deal with "problem wolves," said John Morgart, director of the wolf reintroduction program.
One such policy, Standard Operating Procedure 13, presents which actions will be taken if a wolf causes problems.
"What a lot of folks find to be the most problematic aspect of S.O.P. 13 is the three strikes and you're out rule," Morgart said. "If a wolf or a family of wolves kills three livestock animals, they are removed from the wild."
Morgart said the program tries to capture problem wolves, but he said it will kill them if they cannot be captured.
Nine wolves have been killed in Arizona and New Mexico as a result of the procedure, according to data provided by the wolf recovery
program.
Carter said killing wolves is unacceptable.
"The U.S.F.W.S. is going against their own mandate of reintroducing and protecting the Mexican gray wolves according to the endangered species act," he said. "They are both supporting and sabotaging their own program."
The reintroduction program shouldn't exist because it threatens the livelihood of ranchers in New Mexico, said Brian Phillips, a spokesman for Rep. Steve Pearce.
Pearce's district covers most of the area where wolves are being reintroduced in southern and central New Mexico.
"They've killed and eaten horses down to the bone, and we've seen tracks running right up to people's doors," Phillips said. "There's a girl who's 11 or 12 years old that has to wear a gun on the ranch to protect herself from wolves."
Pearce introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress last legislative session to end the wolf reintroduction program, but the bill did not pass.
Phillips said Pearce won't let that failure stop him from trying to end the wolf reintroduction program.
"There were 176 congresspeople that signed our bill in support of it," he said. "We're sill hoping that we can persuade a few more
congressmen in the next session."
Carter said part of the problem is the federal government leases Forrest Service land to ranchers where the wolves are being reintroduced.
"This is intended as public land and thus is subject to the endangered species act," he said. "The federal government is the landlord to these cattle ranchers, and they should revise land-use policies to minimize conflict between wolves and the livestock industry."
Carter said wolves do not present a significant threat to ranchers in New Mexico. He said UNM and the Fish and Wildlife Service need to protect the species from
extinction.
"UNM picked up this mascot in 1920 and just kind of slept while their mascot was eliminated form the country during the 20th century," he said. "It would be a tragedy to let these animals be exterminated again, which is what is happening now."
